Meet new faculty: Shamia Hoque, engineering

Shamia Hoque

A native of Bangladesh, Shamia Hoque joins Carolina after graduate work at the University
of Toronto and Drexel University.

Name: Shamia Hoque

Current job: Assistant professor, civil and environmental engineering

Degrees: B.Sc. in chemical engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology;
M.A.Sc. in chemical engineering, University of Toronto; Ph.D. in environmental engineering,
Drexel University.

Where are you from originally? Bangladesh.

What’s your area of research? My work is to create models and simulations that can predict how airborne particles
will travel in an environment, like if someone sneezes on an airplane and is later
discovered to have tuberculosis. My models will predict where these pathogens will
travel and where cleanup needs to happen, who needs to be concerned and when the area
will be safe again. It hopefully will be something first-responders can use as well
as urban planners and decision-makers to create safer urban environments, both indoors
and outdoors.

How did you become interested in your work? Growing up, I saw how human activities and decisions had drastic impacts on the environmental
resources (rivers drying up, air becoming impossible to breathe). That took me towards
environmental engineering, and the idea that I could influence the growth and design
of environmental systems led me to my work.

Why did you choose the University of South Carolina? I enjoyed interacting with the faculty, the opportunity to collaborate across colleges
and warmer weather.

What are you most looking forward to about being at UofSC? Through my work I look forward to interacting and working with schools and hospitals
where I hope my research will be a positive contribution.

What made you decide to go into academia? The prospect of being in touch with new and challenging ideas as part of a job is
what appealed to me most.

What’s a talent you have or something that you’ve done that people might find surprising? I used to write fiction and poems for magazines.

Where do you consider “home?” Home to me is where my family and friends are. So now it is Columbia.